Dharwad is an unlikely outpost of the Kirana gharana. On the way to Mysore, he used to stay with his brother in Dharwad, where he taught his most famous disciple, Sawai Gandharva. Jnanpith Award winners D. Bendre , V. Gokak and Girish Karnad trace their origins to Dharwad.
Kannada writer and critic, Kirtinath Kurtakoti winner of Sahitya Akademi, also lived in Dharwad for a good part of his life. Kulkarni also lived most of his life here in Dharwad. Leena Chandavarkar , the Hindi actress and wife of late Kishore Kumar , belongs to this town. He has sponsored the construction of Srijana, a state-of-the-art auditorium in the Karnatak College premises. Sucheta Dalal , the Mumbai-based financial journalist, who exposed the Harshad Mehta scandal studied in Dharwad.
Lucy d'Abreu oldest Briton ever was also born in Dharwad. Dharwad is also the birthplace of Palwankar Baloo , the first member of the Dalit or "Untouchable" caste to distinguish himself at cricket , and later to become a political activist for Dalit rights.
Sunil Joshi , the Indian cricket bowler, also hails from Dharwar. Places of interest in Dharwad district comprise many tourist attractions including temples and historical monuments. It is a popular drum dance. The large drums are decorated with coloured cloth, and are slung around the necks of men.
The dances are at times accompanied with songs relating to religious praise or wars. Veeragase is popular folk dance. It is a symbolic presentation of the heroism and valour of God Veerabahadhra. Its exponents are called Lingadevaru and they perform the dance with religious fervour at festival time especially during the months of Shravana and Kartika.
